| April 04, 2023 | | | |  | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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Larry Tabb, Head of Market Structure Research, Bloomberg Intelligence, opines about SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's concerns and plans
JohnLothianNews.com
John Lothian News interviewed Larry Tabb at the FIA International Futures Conference in Boca Raton, FL about the actions of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and what he thinks about the chairman's ideas. Tabb said Chairman Gensler would like to see more vigorous competition in equities. He offered his thoughts about Gensler's suggested revisions involving order flows, tick size, execution requirements, and greater transparency.
Watch the video »
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | OCC Clears Over 1B Total Contracts in March 2023, Highest Month on Record and up 12.2% Year-Over-Year
OCC
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, announced today that year-to-date average daily volume through March 2023 was 46.3 million contracts, up 8.4 percent compared to year-to-date average daily volume through March 2022. Total volume was 1.1 billion contracts, up 12.2 percent compared to March 2022. March 2023 was the highest total volume month in OCC's history and the first time cleared contract volume surpassed 1 billion contracts in a single month.
/jlne.ws/3nF2qIR
CME Group Reports Second-Highest March and Quarterly ADV on Record
CME Group
24% ADV Growth in March 2023 and 4% Rise in Q1; Record Interest Rate ADV in Q1; Record SOFR futures and options ADV, OI in March and Q1; Record Options ADV in March and Q1. CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today reported its March and Q1 2023 market statistics, showing average daily volume (ADV) increased 24% to 30.3 million contracts in March, representing the company's second-highest March ADV on record. Q1 ADV increased 4% to 26.9 million contracts, the second-highest quarterly volume ever.
/jlne.ws/3KxGBE6
Cryptoverse: Bitcoin traders like their options
Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal - Reuters
Even as bitcoin flies high, investors are keeping their options open, judging by a record race to derivatives.
Open interest for bitcoin options and futures has spiked over the past month as fear has stalked global banking, hitting an all-time high of 433,540 contracts on March 23 on Deribit, a leading exchange for crypto-focused derivatives products.
/jlne.ws/3m7ARaJ
March bank failures show options tricky even when traders pick winners
Jesse Pound - CNBC
The sudden failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month created a nervous waiting game for options investors, showing that even winning trades can be risky in the derivatives market.
The closures of SVB on March 10 and Signature on March 12 led to halts for the stocks â at $106 per share for SVB and $70 per share for Signature.
This halt, and how regulators and brokerage firms handled the outstanding options contracts, turned simple trades into a big headache for retail investors. In some cases, traders had to put up additional cash and take on potential risk or see their timely bets expire worthless.
/jlne.ws/3mbj1nh
BlackRock Looks to Offer 'Buffer ETFs' That Aim to Limit Investors' Losses
Katie Greifeld - Yahoo Finance
The world's largest exchange-traded fund issuer is setting its sights on a booming corner of the $6.9 trillion industry: ETFs that aim to limit an investor's downside by also capping their potential gains.
BlackRock is looking to set up two funds known as Buffer ETFs: The BlackRock Large Cap Moderate Buffer ETF and the BlackRock Large Cap Deep Buffer ETF. Both would track the returns of the $305 billion iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (ticker IVV), using options to try to reduce potential fluctuations in investors' returns, according to a Securities and Exchange filing.
/jlne.ws/3Md1OVa
JPMorgan's Kolanovic Warns Stocks in 'Calm Before the Storm'
Alexandra Semenova - Bloomberg
A risk-on mood fueling this year's equities rally is likely to falter, with headwinds from bank turbulence, an oil shock and slowing growth poised to send stocks back toward their 2022 lows, according to JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic.
"The Fed indicated no intention to cut interest rates this year, yet risk assets are exhibiting an unprecedented rally, with European stocks trading near all-time highs and US stocks recovering recent losses," Kolanovic wrote in a note to clients Monday. "We expect a reversal in risk sentiment and the market retesting last year's low over the coming months."
/jlne.ws/3KxBBzr
'We are going to see parts of the economy break': Recession fears move back to the forefront of markets
Vivien Lou Chen - MarketWatch
Investors appear to be reconsidering the risk that the U.S. economy could be about to tip into a recession, following Tuesday's data which revealed the red-hot labor market is finally loosening up.
That data showed job openings fell to a 21-month low of 9.9 million in February, down from a revised 10.6 million for the prior month. Soon after those figures came out, alongside a report revealing factory orders declined a third time in the past four months, investors flocked to the safety of Treasurys â particularly 6-month TMUBMUSD06M, 4.757% and 1-year T-bills TMUBMUSD01Y, 4.538%, plus the 2-year note TMUBMUSD02Y, 3.845% â and sent gold prices toward record highs.
/jlne.ws/3nFu3S1
OPEC+ Spurs Curious Oil Move as Prices Soar But Volatility Dips
Devika Krishna Kumar and Alex Longley - Bloomberg
After a surprise OPEC+ cut prompted an 8% surge in crude prices, an unusual market signal is hinting the cartel may already be having some success in weeding out speculative short sellers.
Typically, Brent's leap on Monday â its biggest intraday gain in a tumultuous 12 months â would have coincided with a surge in volatility. Instead, implied volatility, a gauge of the pace of price swings in any direction, barely moved and even declined in parts of the curve.
/jlne.ws/3KxGOqM
The Stock Market Will See Strongest Gains of the Year in April: Fundstrat
Matthew Fox - Markets Insider
The stock market is poised to generate its strongest returns of the year over the next four weeks, according to a Monday note from Fundstrat.
The investment research firm analyzed historical seasonal market data that suggests the S&P 500 could surge just over 4% in April to 4,275.
/jlne.ws/3GjGDNj
Hedge funds caught off guard again in turmoil
Laurence Fletcher - Financial Times
Hedge funds have hardly been covering themselves in glory during a tumultuous few weeks for markets.
Sharp moves in the US government bond market and in bank stocks, driven by failures in the US regional banking sector and the fall of Credit Suisse, have left numerous funds in the red for the year.
/jlne.ws/3zxU60o
| | | | | | Exchanges | | | VIX Logs Longest Losing Streak Since March 2021
Nasdaq
The major indexes ended their first session of the second quarter mixed, with the Dow closing up triple digits and the S&P 500 marking a modest win of its own. This came as investors looked for direction following OPEC+'s 1.16 million barrel daily oil output cut, helping the commodity surge to its largest daily gain in nearly a year. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq moved lower, while Wall Street's "fear gauge," the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), logged its seventh-straight loss -- its longest such streak since March 2021.
/jlne.ws/3nNscLj
Assenagon Selects ICE for OTC Derivative Valuations
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today announced that Luxembourg-based Assenagon has selected ICE's Portfolio Analytics platform for the valuation of OTC derivatives products. With offices in Luxembourg, Munich, Frankfurt and Zurich, Assenagon is one of the fastest growing active asset managers in Europe with EUR 37 billion in assets under management (AUM).
/jlne.ws/3KvKxoL
Commodity price outlook and interest rate concerns cloud farmer sentiment
CME Group
Farmer sentiment weakened Âagain in March as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer fell 8 points to a reading of 117. Both of the barometer's sub-indices declined 8 points in March, leaving the Current Conditions Index at 126 and the Future Expectations Index at 113. The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from 400 U.S. agricultural producers' responses to a telephone survey. This month's survey was conducted between March 13-17, which coincided with the demise of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
/jlne.ws/3ZHIB0M
| | | | | | Strategy | | | Upside In The VIX
Cboe (Video)
Tim Biggam addresses $VIX positioning and implied #volatility in today's #Vol411
/jlne.ws/3ZMsSNX
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